Russia-Ukraine war live: 11 die in Russian attack on Kharkiv lakeside resort and nearby villages
Hello and welcome to the Guardian’s live coverage of the war in Ukraine. The time has just gone past 10:30am in Kyiv.
Russia struck a lakeside resort on the edge of Kharkiv on Sunday and attacked villages in the surrounding region, killing at least 11 people, officials said. Prosecutors said six people were killed in the resort, with one missing and 27 injured.
Rescuers said the initial strike was followed by a second strike about 20 minutes later, targeting emergency crews at the scene.
Another five people were killed and nine injured later in the day in two villages in Kupiansk district. Local governor Oleh Syniehubov said Russian forces shelled two villages of the district with a self-propelled multiple rocket launcher.
Prosecutors also said one person was killed in Russian shelling in the town of Vovchansk, a town at the centre of a Russian incursion launched just over a week ago. Three people were injured.
The missile strikes were the latest in what have been constant attacks in recent weeks on the Kharkiv region of north-eastern Ukraine, where Russian troops have launched an offensive.
In other news:
Russia has said that Ukraine launched a major 62-drone attack on Russian regions forcing an oil refinery to halt operations, and that Kyiv’s forces had fired US, French and Ukrainian missiles at Russian-held territory. Russia said it shot down at least 103 drones, including 62 over Russian regions, as well as Army Tactical Missile System (Atacms) over Crimea, French guided “Hammer” bombs and US High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS).
Local officials said six drones crashed on to the territory of an oil refinery in Slavyansk in Russia’s southern Krasnodar region. Interfax news agency said the refinery halted work after the attack.
Elsewhere, the Ukrainian navy said had destroyed the Russian Black Sea Fleet’s Project 266-M Kovrovets minesweeper.
Britain and Finland will sign a strategic partnership on Monday to strengthen ties and counter the threat of Russian aggression, UK foreign secretary David Cameron has said. The two countries will declare Russia as “the most significant and direct threat to European peace and stability”, according to a Foreign Office press release.
Russia has expressed its condolences over the deaths of Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi and Iranian foreign minister Hossein Amir-abdollahian who died in a helicopter crash on Sunday. Iran and Russia are allies, with the Islamic Republic supplying drones used in Moscow’s attacks on Ukrainian forces. Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov hailed Raisi and Amir-abdollahian as true patriots of the Islamic Republic and reliable friends of Russia. “Their role in strengthening mutually beneficial Russian-Iranian cooperation and trusting partnership is invaluable,” Lavrov said.
Divisions over whether Ukraine can lawfully be handed an extra €30bn (£26bn) loan drawn from €270bn in seized Russian state assets are likely to be aired at a meeting of G7 finance ministers this week in Stresa, northern Italy.